


A Subtle Power: Anthology

by imaginaryari (adrenalinsoo)



Category: C-Clown, Multi-Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 03:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13473150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrenalinsoo/pseuds/imaginaryari
Summary: A small city on its own where supers live and train to perfect their powers. Founded in order to prevent the increasing amount of villains, to further understand superpowers, and to protect civilian lives.Your supers are always willing to help! Please see the Directory for local heroes!---The Anthology re-up





	1. Welcome to the Academy

It’s around mid day when the guide stretches his arms above his head letting out a yawn. He makes his way past several offices and labs before he reaches the large lobby. It’s intimidating when someone enters for the first time and feels more like a museum full of fragile artifacts than an actual learning institution. 

This is his third tour of the day and he’s hoping for a smaller group. The previous one had a bunch of young elementary school students who kept drifting from their group; their teacher offering no help at all. 

He crosses the lobby, making his way to the waiting room where his next tour is waiting and puts on a smile. It’s not smaller but there are less kids and more adults. Small mercies. 

“Good Afternoon!” 

His bellowing voice startled a few of the tourist. “I will be leading you around the Academy today. Please follow me and do not leave the group until the tour is over.” A few of them clap excitedly and the group follows. 

“The Academy was established over 100 years ago. A place where those born with supernatural abilities can come together and learn about their powers as well learn to control them. Most importantly, use them for good.” The guide walks backwards facing his group, leading them through a long corridor. 

He reaches a door and pulls out his key card. 

“The room we are about to enter is the cafeteria. This is where heroes in training can eat or just rest between the vigorous training schedules.” 

‘Please refrain from fangirling or fanboying there’s nothing to see’ he wants to add but instead smiles and opens the door. He likes to spend as little time as he can here. It’s not a part of the tour people particularly favor but it important for humanizing the heroes or something. The guard doesn’t really care. 

“Supers aren’t allowed to use their powers in the cafeteria for their own safety as well as yours.” 

The next part of the tour is however, one civilians like. “This next room is one of the many classrooms/training rooms. Supers with similar abilities learn the source of their abilities and assist each other in mastering their ability.” It’s a huge room with high ceilings, the desks and chairs pushed to the walls and out of the way. The makeshift circle formed has the instructor in the center giving instructions to another student who nods eagerly. The rest of class either taking notes or watching intently.

“Who’s in here today?” The guide asks obnoxiously loud. The instructor in the middle of the circle stops what he’s doing and fixes the guide with a look. “Ah I’m sorry for interrupting professor.” He’s not and the professor knows it. “I see today’s group are all weather manipulators,” the guide observes.

“You’re Sunny!” a civilian says pointing to a woman near the back of the room with short blonde hair framing her face and a smile as bright as day. She waves as him and bouts of sunlight dance around her fingertips. The civilians gape in astonishment as the guide keeps a straight face. 

“We can’t distract the supers for too long so moving on!” The guide says ushering them away from the classroom.

The tour briefly pass by the resident halls where all supers are forced to coexist with one another. Most civilians seem to care little about this area, seeing as how it's a no-power zone. 

“We’ve reached the final part of the tour: the Arenas” 

‘AKA the part you’ve all been waiting for.’ 

He leads them through several hallways before they arrive outdoors at a railing overlooking a large training arena. The tourist tug their coats closer as the wind picks up. They share awed glances at the sheer size of the arena and their present altitude. 

“This is where supers get real intensive training,” The guide yells over the wind, “supers can challenge each other to a match at any time as well as use the areas as a safe place to test their abilities!”

All of the civilians crowd around the railing to see who’s currently in the arena. The guide is confused because no one should be in the arena. The fights are scheduled for tours and the two supers who are supposed to be fighting have to make their grand entrances; purely for entertainment. 

He sees a lone figure in the center of the arena and barely makes out who it is. ‘What is he doing?’ The guide quickly and firmly tells the tour to step back making sure not alert the tourist that something is wrong. 

The guide is about to call out to the figure in the arena when the latter is suddenly engulfed in flames. The tour claps in awe and The guide laughs nervously. Their sounds of awe only increase when they notice The super slowly starting to take flight. The guide jumps in front of group. He’s unsure of what to do but knows he can’t let any civilian get hurt. ‘He wouldn’t hurt anyone though…’

The guide is proven wrong when The super starts attacking the arenas structure with large balls of fire targetting the specialized netting that surrounds it. It’s a weird material, basically immune to any and all superpowers and perfect for keeping supers in. 

“Hey stop!” The guide yells. ‘It’s pointless.’ 

The super isn’t listening, forcing the guide to call for backup. He steps aside and pulls out his radio. “We have a Code Yellow; South Arena.” 

That seems to get the pyrokinetic’s attention as he sends a fireball toward The guide and his tour. 

“Everyone back up!” 

The civilians thankfully comply as The guide takes the brunt of the attack. Some of them gasp and are even more confused when they see the guide is a little singed but otherwise unharmed. 

The super continues his assault on the Arena managing to dislodge a couple of the pillars, tearing a hole in the netting. The guide’s eyes widen, ‘he’s done it…’ Instantly, the pyrokinetic bolts for the hole in the netting. 

The guide watches as The super dashes towards the netting until he stops in mid air, terribly close to the net. A rope, made out of similar material as the netting, grabs the Super by the leg and electrifies him. The super falls to the ground in a trail of smoke. As one guard drags the Super closer, an elemental Super extinguishes the surrounding fire using water.

The guide lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His tour behind him, physically unharmed, exchanging confused whispers and shocked glances.  
—

“That concludes the tour of the Academy.”


	2. Blockroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse gets Rome sent to a blockroom

Chapter 2: Blockroom

An alarm goes off at 7:00 am every morning echoing throughout the resident halls and waking every super for their day. Rome groans; his mentor had not held back in their last session leaving him sore and in need of at least 3 more hours of sleep. He turns over to face the other bed in the room.

**[Rome: 21. Telekinetic. Power Level: 4] ******

********

********

“Jun, you up?” He says without opening his eyes. 

“Been up.” Jun says puttering somewhere behind him. His voice is always too chipper for the time of day. “You have 20 minutes before you miss the shuttle.”

**[Jun: 19. Pain Illusion. Power Level: 4] ******

********

********

“I’ll get up in 10” are Rome’s famous last words. He doesnt, Jun leaves him sometimes just to prove he will. Rome’s almost always late for breakfast and in turn late for class. His professors and mentors still love him anyway. It must be his charming smile; the same one he flashes to the server who tells him breakfast is over. She was trying to pack up the remaining breakfast food when he showed up as she relinquishes the last of the bacon.

Rome is late for breakfast again and has to swindle the last of the bacon from the server who repeatedly tells him breakfast is over. She ends up giving him a plate after he flashes her a charming smile. 

On his way to an empty table, the girl in front of him slips on a spill. Rome doesn't think twice when he reaches out to keep her from falling to the ground. He also doesn't think about it when he stops her food from landing on her. The contents of her plate freezing in motion inches from her face. Rome concentrates, guiding the food back on her plate and back into her hands. 

"There you go." He says. There's a hush around the cafeteria and everyone is staring. The girl takes a step back and whispers, "You didn't have to do that." 

"It's no prob-" he's cut off by a shove to his shoulders and his arms being forced behind him, and suddenly he's dragged away by guards; his own plate abandoned on the floor. 

Blockrooms are a funny thing. Rome notes every time he's sent to one. It's a bright white room containing only a cot where Supers can't use their powers, and no one, except maybe the Academy higher ups, understand how they work. He’s forced to stay there until lunch. This isn't his first offense, and he's a bit bitter that it’s for something so minor. 

"No powers outside the training rooms." 

He groans laying down on the scratchy cot. Safety rule number 2? 3? Whatever, it’s a redundant one since there aren't any more civilians to accidentally injure. He attempts to entertain himself by tossing the pillow on his cot in the air. A very mundane task but he has nothing else in the room with him. 

Something flickers in the corner of his vision and he stops. He stares through the sealed glass door only to see into the empty cell across from him. He gets up from his cot, walking towards the door trying to make out what exactly he's seeing. 

The girl from that morning suddenly appears outside his cell. Rome jumps back, surprised. She laughs. "Sorry about that."

**[Eclipse: 20. Invisibility/Force Fields. Power Level: 4] ******

********

********

"Gave me a heart attack." 

"Again, sorry." She bows her head. "I wanted to thank you for before. I didn't think they would punish you so severely." 

"What? This? This is like my second home. No worries." He jokes. The gesture doesn't seem to lighten her mood, "hey it's not your fault. I'll be out soon anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah don't beat yourself up too much." She finally looks up and nods giving him a small smile. 

"Okay."

"What do they call you?" He asks. 

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Not everyday I get a visitor in the blockroom. My own best friend doesn't try to see me."

She laughs again, genuinely. "Eclipse. Invisibility but you already knew that."

"Fitting. They call me Rome. Telekinetic but you knew that."

"Not so fitting."

"Oh so you've got jokes?" They both break out into laughter at that. 

They talk for hours until something beeps. She lets out a disappointed groan, glancing at her watch. "Training session." She explains. 

"Well don't let me keep you."

"What if I want you to?" She says suggestively before breaking out into an embarrassed grin. "Oh that was terrible."

"Eh. 7 out of 10," he reassures her. "You should probably go before they put you in that cell." He says pointing to the one behind her.

"Alright. I can see when I'm not wanted."

"That's not-"

"I'm kidding. Stay out of trouble Rome." She says with a wave running off to make her session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---
> 
> So nicknames/aliases
> 
> Very important in the academy. Government names are the one thing that aren't mandatory for the academy to have. They value secret identities and superhero aliases are given when a student enters the academy. There was a time where names were given based on the powers a super had (sunny and eclipse for ex.) however it's starting to die out and only a handful of students still have power based aliases.


	3. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best way to get to know a super is to meet them in battle

A couple days after the bloockroom incident, Rome is finishing up lunch with Kangjun. His roommate telling an exaggerated story of his last training session. As much as Rome appreciates the guys humor, he has 2 hours of leisure time to kill before his class and Kangjun has a training session. He gets up from the table telling Kangjun to take it easy on his mentor. “Tell him to take it easy on me!”

He heads for one of the many lounges but is interrupted however, by a beep from his watch. 

**Fight Request from Eclipse  
Accept Decline**

_Bold_ is what he thinks as he hits accept on his watch. He hasn't fought in a while, trying to salvage his image. While the academy promotes fights, too many will get a Super labeled a potential villain. 

When Rome gets to the arena Eclipse is already in battle and already invisible. He recognizes her opponent from his class with other ‘kinetics. 

**[Elly. 21. Glass Manipulation. Power Level 4]**

Elly has shards of glass in a circle around her pouted outward and ready to strike. She's at standstill, unable to attack a target she can't see. 

Rome takes a seat and watches. Might as well see what he’s up against. 

—

The match ends in a draw and Rome actually applauds the two ladies. Elly bows with flourish and catches the time on her watch. “Shit, my mentors gonna kill me. Next time lose faster for me, yeah?” Elly says with a smirk.

“Not a chance in hell. See you later!” Eclipse waves as Elly runs off.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Rome asks. “Doesn’t that fight give me an unfair advantage?” 

“How so?”

“Well, you’ve exhausted a lot of energy and I’ve seen how you fight.”

She laughs. “You’ve literally seen nothing.”

The buzzer goes off signaling the start of the match. 

—

_She fights dirty_ Rome thinks the first unseen blow hits his back sending him forward. He quickly recovers with a tumble listening for footsteps. She’s light on her feet too as the second hit sweeps his legs out from under him. Alright. He jumps on to his feet, quickly feeling out any inanimate objects in the area and they slowly begin to rise. He jumps onto a large boulder and takes it for a ride. It’s a bit tricky keeping his balance and keeping the rocks up but he needs to get off the ground. 

____

____

When she doesn’t reappear he drops all of them. it does the job of weeding her out as she covers herself with a forcefield and reappears. He’d noticed she couldn’t use her invisibility and her fields simultaneously, a redundant piece of knowledge since he’s unable to hit a target he can’t see nor hit the one he can. 

He’s always been stubborn though, and forfeiting was never an option. _I can at least tire her out_.

—

The buzzer goes off again signaling the end of the match and Rome breathes a sigh of relief. It’s a draw, but he feels slight satisfaction from her obvious exhaustion. The back to back matches finally taking their toll. “You don’t quit do you?” she asks, trying to catch her breath. He flashes a lopsided grin. “Could say the same about you.”

Rome lays out on the bleachers while Eclipse takes a seat on the ground in front of them. Its quiet before Rome speaks up. “Is Elly on your team?”

“Nope, she’s just my roommate,” Eclipse answers, “I haven’t been assigned one.”

“Why not?”

“The Academy thinks my powers would be better served elsewhere.” She replies with a shrug, her answer sounding rehearsed. “What about you?”

“I haven’t met all of them yet. So far it’s just Jun.”

“What’s his power?”

“Nerve manipulation.”

“That doesn’t sound fun.” She says with a slight shudder. 

“He’d wholeheartedly disagree.” They share a laugh which echoes in the empty arena. This time it’s Rome’s watch that beeps alerting him he still has a class to get to. He groans, loudly, to which Eclipse gives him a concerned look.

“Sorry, just don’t feel like going to class.”

“That’s unfortunate,” she says pulling herself from the floor. “I’d tell you to skip but you’ve already been sent to a blockroom this week.”

“Please, one time I spent a week in there.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. like I said, second home.” Rome sits up and stretches his arms. He catches her troubled look and tries to reassure her. “I’ll be alright.”

"You really need to stop getting in trouble." Eclipse says after a space of silence. 

“You’re probably right,” he stands making his way towards the exit. “That isn’t completely up to me though, is it?”

\---

To prove his point, he’s sent to a blockroom that day. No it’s not because he was late (he wasn’t. He cut it close but he was most definitely in his seat when class started), it was because he broke a window in the ‘kinetic classroom. In his defense, it was an accident. An exercise on control in which he and another student had to mentally pass an object back and forth, picking up speed as they did. It might have come back to Rome a bit too fast and rather than try and fail to stop it, redirected it somewhere else. Somewhere else just happened to be a window. 

_No one was even hurt this is bullshit._

There’s a familiar flicker in the corner of his vision and Eclipse appears outside his cell once again. 

Rome decides being in the blockroom isn't the worst thing now that he has a constant visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhhh come find me @imaginaryari on tumblr


	4. The Roof

The roof is Rome and Eclipse's place where they escape for a while. There's a wonderful view of the super city and even better, no cameras. There are seldom places around the academy that aren't monitored but then again no one should have a reason to hide. 

"You think your teams ready for evals?" She asks swinging her legs over the ledge of the roof. 

Rome nods, his mouth full. He passes Eclipse the bottle who takes a generous sip. Alcohol isn't allowed in the academy for many reasons but the two of them have a knack for getting their hands on things they aren't allowed to have. 

"They added a few kids to our line up. One of them is really young but he can hold his own." 

"How young?"

"14." Rome laughs at the face Eclipse makes. "They call him Maru."

"He'll be saving lives before he graduates." Eclipse says handing the drink back to Rome. She gets a far off look in her eyes, lost in thought and Rome asks what's wrong. 

"Just thinking," she starts. “You ever think about what our lives would be like if we didn't have powers?"

Rome contemplates. He never used to think about it before he met Eclipse. "Sometimes." 

It's almost forbidden to think that way. The academy is here specifically for them to learn about their powers. Also, to learn to help civilians who can't fight disasters or super villains. The academy has super propaganda everywhere but from the movies they sneak to watch that isn't the case outside the city. 

"We don't have a lot of options here do we?" She asks. 

"Options?"

"Like for the future." She bites on her thumbnail, a nervous habit. "In those movies we watch, civilians have different jobs. If you were a civilian what would you be?"

She's wading into dangerous waters. Rome takes another sip

"I wouldn't know." He answers honestly. "We're only taught how to use our powers to save people." We don't know much else he thinks but doesn't say. It makes him feel a bit uncomfortable. 

"Right." She says looking down. "I'm sorry forget I asked."

"It's no problem. I think you're right to be curious. There's a lot they won't tell us." He says reassuring. He changes the subject. “Wanna hear how Jun got sent to the Blockroom this week?”  
She flashes a sadistic smile, “what did that fool do now?”

\---  
It’s close to curfew when they leave the roof, destroying any evidence that they were there. Not yet ready to part, they claim one of the lounges. Eclipse sprawls out on one of the couches with a sigh. Rome follows, almost crushing her under his weight. 

“Get off!” she says, laughing.

“No. I’m comfy.”

“I’m not, though.”

“Sounds like a personal problem,” he chuckles. Eclipse sighs and wriggles into a more comfortable position. It’s quiet for a moment and Eclipse closes her eyes. He’s so warm.

“Yu Barom.”

“What?” eclipse asks, suprised.

“Yu Barom,” he repeats. “That’s my name.” As if he didn’t just give out the one piece of information that could end him, he looks up and smiles. Eclipse stares at him incredulously and then bites her lip. 

“Kim Siyeon.”

_I trust you. ___

—

“Aren’t they cute?” A voice lilts in a low-lit room full of monitors. The girl it belongs to perched, legs crossed in a slowly spinning rolling chair. 

“They are reckless if anything, Min,” this time it’s a male, seated in a nearby couch, head in his hand looking absolutely bored with the monitors’ feed. 

“Aw Henry you’re no fun! We were all reckless once, right Amber?” Min says to the person seated directly in front of the monitors. Amber doesn’t turn around and says “some of us still are.” It earns a snicker from Min and an eye roll from Henry. 

“What do you think Amber?” Henry asks. 

“I think they could be very helpful,” Amber answers and Min lets out a lot whoop in triumph. “We still have to put it to a vote when we’re all here.” 

Min tsks. “Formalities.” She mutters. 

Henry stands making his way towards the wall of monitors. “What do you make of the girls response? About not having a team.”

“That we take extra precautions with her.” Amber says with a shrug. “For now,” she looks at Min who has finally stopped spinning in her chair, “Min can you get a hold of this guy?”

Min smiles. “I’d be happy to!”

**Author's Note:**

> how goes it? im still somehow writing this. feel free to hmu @ imaginaryari on tumblr


End file.
